Behemoth’s Nergal Explores Nightmarish Strip Club in Me & That Man’s ‘My Church is Black’ Video

Behemoth frontman Nergal has just unleashed the first single from his folk project, Me and That Man. “My Church is Black” is a sinister track accompanied by a look into a strip club, where a man finds himself lost in a carnal world searching for enlightenment.

Me and That Man’s debut album, Songs of Love and Death, is scheduled to come out March 24 via Crooked Vinyl. Nergal teamed up with rock musician John Porter for the project, keeping things dark and heavy without having to hit the distortion.

"This album is not meant to turn Me and That Man fans into Behemoth fans," Nergal notes. "If one day they follow, OK. Something like 'My Church Is Black' is a strong declaration, a song that naturally invites people from the extreme metal world, and perhaps they'll want to enter this world too. They might even like it. With Me and That Man, I'm telling simple stories in a simple way, not overloaded with metaphors and hidden meanings. It's just got to be as natural, organic and stripped down as it can be."

He further explains, "With Me and That Man, the songs just come out in a very organic way. One would be bluesy, one would be more of a ballad, but put together they all made sense. I need Me and That Man to keep the balance, as the potential of my mother band seems limitless. It gets bigger and bigger, more advanced and more sophisticated... and darker ...and blacker. But Me and That Man is at the opposite pole, artistically speaking. With all the best art, once you have it in you, you have to release it, otherwise it becomes intoxicating and dangerous to your own system. This is how I deal with my emotions and my dark feelings and shadows. This is not happy music, but it's liberating."

"This is a side-project, but I don't really know what it's going to grow into," Nergal concludes. The idea was just to get this music out to people. There's no hidden agenda. It is what it is, and if you like it, it's cool. If you don't, that's cool too. This is the battle we've already won."

As for “My Church is Black,” Me and That Man premiered the video on Noisey. “’My Church is Black’ was the first song for Me and That Man. I wrote the main theme and instinctively started singing these lyrics, it flowed organically and I embraced it,” Nergal says. “I picked the song as first single, and opening track of the record. This song is a statement. It's a new energy, exploring new dimensions of the genre I've not known before… but somehow, naturally, the song builds a bridge between these two worlds, the radical scene where I originally come from, to this new domain… full of shadows and question marks. Yet the trip is highly exciting and inspirational."

Check out Me and That Man’s debut track in the clip above! To pre-order Songs of Love and Death, click here.

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